Salt roasted sweet potatoes are a super easy preparation for this healthy tuber that produces a tender, perfectly seasoned potato. Top salt roasted sweet potatoes with a simple garlic butter or sour cream and enjoy the unique savoriness.
Thanksgiving is nigh, guys. The holiday where families gather to celebrate togetherness — assuming we all don’t strangle each other before dessert — and express gratitude for the gifts we have in life.
It’s also the holiday where the poor, awesome sweet potato is drowned in sticky-sweet syrupy goo and capped with marshmallows. Like the texture of shredded coconut {shiver me timbers}, this is a dish that I just don’t understand. Please don’t take offense if it’s your Thanksgiving specialty — I know it’s just me who has this thing about sweet potatoes and marshmallows.
I simply prefer a savory treatment for sweet potatoes (and for the folks who believe they harbor a general dislike of the sweet potato, it’s worth a try to salvage the enjoyment of this healthy tuber, too).
As a plus, this method for salt roasted sweet potatoes in a bed of salt yields a super-tender inside with a crispy skin outside, subtly infused with salt and herbs.
The technique works equally well with the grocery-store Beauregard variety (garnet skin with orange flesh, shown above) and the sensational Asian Murasaki varieties (purple skin, butter/white flesh).
Salt roasting is nothing new — it’s a great treatment for russet potatoes, too — you can salt roast steaks, and even whole chickens, on the grill. Far from oversalting the food, the salt does double-duty as both tenderizer and subtle (yes, subtle) seasoning. In the covered environment of the baking dish, the potatoes are gently steamed with moisture from the salt, plus extra flavor from the herbs and garlic.
The result is restaurant-quality, if you ask me.
Use the garlic cloves to make garlic butter to stuff into the salt roasted sweet potatoes (vegans, you already know that Earth Balance makes quite the tasty spread with roasted garlic — I used it here).
I’m kicking myself, though, because I recently scored some black garlic and totally forgot about it — that would’ve been awesome.
Although I prepared salt roasted sweet potatoes for a light dinner with a green salad, you can easily scale up this recipe for your family to prepare salt roasted sweet potatoes for a crowd: use a larger baking dish with enough salt to cover the bottom by an inch, and add another sprig or two of rosemary and thyme.
You can also roast an entire garlic bulb — just slice off the top to expose the cloves, and nestle the bulb in the salt. Oh, and as discussed in the comments below, you can save the salt. It will have a touch of herb flavorings from the rosemary and thyme stems, so, store it separately and use for savory recipes.
Karen xo
Salt roasted sweet potatoes
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Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 2 cups kosher salt
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 4 cloves garlic
- olive oil for brushing
- sour cream or Greek yogurt for garnish
- 2 tablespoons butter softened, for garnish
- herbs de Provence for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Pour the salt into a baking dish. Nestle the potatoes into the salt, and arrange the rosemary, thyme and garlic cloves around them in the salt. Cover tightly with foil and roast for one hour. If using large potatoes, test for doneness with a paring knife - the tip of the knife should easily pierce the potato.
- Remove the foil and brush the all sides of the potatoes with olive oil. Remove the garlic cloves and set aside. Discard the rosemary and thyme springs. Return the pan to the oven and bake, uncovered, for another 15 minutes, to crisp the skin. Meanwhile, squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into the butter and mash well.
- Brush any caked salt from the potatoes. Slice open and garnish with garlic butter, sour cream and a sprinkle of herbs de Provence.
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